Union garment.



No. 666,938. Patented lan. v29, 190|. A. E. POST.

UNION GABMENT.

(Application led Apr. 2, 1900.)

(No Modal.)

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NITED STATES ANGELICA E. POST, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

nNl'oN GARMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 666,938, dated January 29, 1901.

Application iled April 2, 1900. Serial No. 11,135. LNo model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ANGELICA E. PosT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, county of Suolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Knit Undergarments, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to knit undergarments made of flexible knit fabrics, and has more particularly for its object the construction of a garment whereby the necessary fulness and elasticity are provided about the hips and in the rear portion or seat of the garment, the invention being applicable to cdmbination or union garments, consisting of a shirt and drawers made in one piece, or to drawers alone.

In the construction of drawers and the drawers forming part of a union garment, the bifurcated legs are united at the back for a convenient distance down from the waistline, and various devices have been employed to provide an eectual covering for the body of the wearer about the hips and seat-such, for instance, as overlapping gores or enlargements secured to the backs of the legs. So far as I am aware, however, such garments have heretofore been made with the wales of the knitted fabric extended in the length of the garment, and for such parts of the garment as can be closed-t'. e., about the body and across the breast and from the waist-line to the crotch-such mode of knitting is suitable, buttons or other fastening devices normally closing the parts. About the hip and seat portions of the garment, however, where it is very inconvenient or entirely impracticable to use buttons, the longitudinal wales are defective in that the movement of the legs or bending of the body of the wearer tends to open or separate the overlapping portions of the seat and uncovering such parts of the person. This is due to the fact that knitted fabric is most elastic transversely to the direction of the wales, and when strain is exerted upon the fabric at the seat portion of the garment in the direction of least elasticity the result is a pulling apart or gaping of I the unconnected but adjacent back edges of the legs. If sufficient material be used to prevent any material gaping at the back, it is impossible to obtain a neat and desirable fit about the abdomen and front of the thighs. In my present invention I overcome this objectionable feature by making the wales of the fabric in the seat portion of the garment run transversely to the length of the garment, the seatand thigh portions being wholly or in part so constructed according to the character of the garment. By this construction the greater elasticity of the fabric is in the direction of the greatest strains to which it will be subjected by the various movements of the wearer, and the unconnected edges at l the back of the legs will not draw apart no matter how great the strain or tension thereupon, noperceptible contraction taking place in the width of the garment at the seat portion.

Figure l is a back view of a union undergarment embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a similar view of a pair of knit drawers having my invention applied thereto.

Referring first to Fig. l, I knit on any suitable machine, suoh as a Lamb machine, two ilat webs ct d, setting up a sucient number of stitches to reach from the waist-line to the thighs, said Webs forming the seat portion and upper part of the legs, and preferably one end of each piece is finished od by a ribbed portionr d Each web is united at its two lower corners, as at CL2, and the ribbed edges ct are overlapped, as shown, to normally close the seat portion of the garment, the frontupright edges of the webs (notshown) being provided with buttons and buttonholes, as is common in such garments from the crotch upward. When the' seat and thigh portion is completed, in whichxtlle wales and ribs extend transversely to the length of the garment, the top selvage edges of the two ribs are picked onto the needles of a knittingmachine and the body portion b is knit, the wales thereof extending in the direction of the length of the garment, a ribbed waist portion bx being usually knitted before beginning the plain knitting in order to tit or snug the waist in to the wearer. The body portion is completed in any desired or well-known manner, and it may be either open or closed in front from the waist-line to the neck, both modes of procedure being in extended use.

IOO

Thereafter the lower selvage edge a3 of each web a is picked onto the needles, and the legs c are knit in the usual manner, the Wales or ribs, as the case may be, extending longitudinally thereof. I prefer to make the portions a' at the seat portion overlap each other several inches in order to insure a complete covering at all times, no matter what the strain to which the seat portion may be subjected.

In applying my invention to drawers, as in Fig. 2, the front, sides, and greater portion of the legs d maybe knit in the usual manner, the wales extending longitudinally, and if the knitting is begun at the top or waist the seat portion is omitted as far down as the thighs, as at d', whereupon the necessary needles are thrown in to complete the legs. After completing the legs the selvage edge dx of one leg portion is then picked onto the needles and the horizontal Wale portion or seat c is knitted,united at top and bottom to the waistribbing d2 and the top d of the thigh, respectively, the seat portion being preferably finished with a ribbed edge e. If desired, the

scat portions can be knit separately and thereafter sewed into place, and the upper ends of the overlapping portions can be detachably connected by buttonsf or other fastenings.

I do not confine myself to any particular style of knitting nor to any particular form of body portion if my invention is embodied in a union garment, the gist of my invention consisting in providing an open seat portion having overlapping free edges, the said seat portion being made with the Wales transverse to the length of the garment.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a knit garment, the body portion cornposed of knit fabric the Wales of which extend longitudinally of the garment, and a seat and hip portion the Wales of which are transversely extended substantially throughout said seat and hip portion, the adjoining parts of Said seat and hip portions being unconnected and overlapped and provided with a ribbed edge.

2. In a knitl union garment, the body portion composed of knit-fabric the wales of which extend longitudinally of the garment, and a seat and hip portion the Wales of which are transversely extended throughout said seat and hip portions, the inner, upright edges of the seat portion being unconnected and overlapped.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANGELICA E. POST.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. EDWARDS, AUGUSTA E. DEAN. 

